The cycle of learning that I use with my students is one of Discover – Engage – Reflect, and today I want to focus on Reflect. It is hard to imagine that true learning can happen without some sort of reflection. What have we done? How is it similar to what we have done before? How is it different? What are my key takeaways? What concepts are not as clear as they need to be? On Monday I revisited using…
I tried something new in my intermediate algebra class. Over the last 3 classes we covered absolute value equations, absolute value inequalities, and graphing absolute value functions. I tried to tie these ideas together through the magic of Desmos, and although it started strong, it could have ended better. We began with the equation . Students solved this by hand and we went over the solution. Then I had students use Desmos to graph and determine where it intersected the…
This week in my intermediate algebra class we covered graphing absolute value functions. I began by having students create an x-y table for . We plotted the points and they could tell the shape of the graph, and I asked them which point was the most important point. They knew it was the turning point of the graph. So far, so good. Next, I put up this equation: . I then gave them a few minutes to figure out where…
This semester I will be posting about my experiences with the Flipped Classroom. I am using this approach in my Statistics class, and you can read about my day-by-day progress here. I am also using this approach in my Intermediate Algebra class, as well as some of my materials in an online Elementary Algebra class. If you have questions, comments, or topics you’d like me to cover, please leave a comment or reach out to me on Twitter. Pre-Class Assignments…